SALVATION (March 17th)

I wanted to continue our discussion of the book of Isaiah.

Chapter 12 begins with the discussion of mercy.

Isaiah writes, "I thank You God, You were angry, but your anger wasn't forever. You withdrew Your anger, and move in and comforted me."

God gets angry with us. Sometimes we choose not to be the best followers of Christ that we can be. And I'm sure this disappoints and hurts God-- maybe even makes Him upset. BUT, His anger does not last forever. He does withdraw it and comforts us after the fact.

My mom had a talk with me one day about God's anger... and the healing of His anger. Mom said, "You get mad at your children right?" I said, "Yes I do!" She said, "Do you let that anger continue forever?" I said, "No! As soon as I know they understand what they did wrong, I drop it." She said, "And you're a human. How much more forgiving do you think God is?" 

It hit me like a ton of bricks. 

He's forgiving. He's merciful.

Isaiah 12:2 says, "Yes, indeed- God is my salvation. I trust, I won't be afraid. God- yes God- is my strength and my song, best of all my salvation."

This tells us three things:
1. God is our salvation. Salvation is described as, "the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc." God protects us from harm, risk, loss, and destruction. He covers us in every situation.

2. We should trust and not be afraid. 

3. God is my strength. 

He protects us. He's our strength. We should never be afraid with Him in our life.

In Isaiah chapter 17, we read about religion.

I feel like Isaiah discusses a religion a great deal in his book.

Religion, according to the dictionary, is described as, "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a  super human agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs."

Over and over again, we read that God doesn't care about religion. He cares about our hearts and how we are treating others.

In Isaiah chapter 17, Isaiah writes, "And why? Because you have forgotten God-Your-Salvation, not remembered your Rock-of-Refuge. And so, even though you are very religious, planting all sorts of bushes and herbs and trees to honor and influence your fertility gods. And even though you make them grow so well... nothing will come of them. Instead of a harvest, you'll get nothing but grief and pain, pain, pain."

God doesn't care about religion! He just wants to be remembered every day! That's all He wants from us.

In chapter 19, we read:

"On that day, there will be a place of worship to God in the center of Egypt and a monument to God at its border. It will show how the God-of-the-Angel-Armies has helped the Egyptians. When they cry out in prayer to God because of oppressors, He'll send them help. a savior who will keep them safe and take care of them. God will openly show himself to the Egyptians and they'll get to know him on that Day. They'll worship Him seriously with sacrifices and burnt offerings. They'll make vows and keep them. God will wound Egypt, first hit then heal. Egypt will come back to God and God will listen to their prayers and heal them, heal them from head to toe."

What I took from this verse is this:

Does God wound......... just to heal?

I would be curious to hear thoughts on this concept. 

Does God smite us with certain things... in order to heal us?

Would love to have a discussion on this concept.

Happy 365 Days of Blogging!